Home is Where My Heart is: With Jacob by PeytonMa
by Just a Kiss Contest
Summary: ENTRY FOR THE JUST A KISS CONTEST: It's always been Jacob. There's nothing else to it. Well, actually there's a lot more than is allowed to be realized. Ignores Jacob/Bella Eclipse events.


**Just a Kiss Contest: Jacob and Bella**

**Story Title: Home Is Where My Heart Is: With Jacob**

**Penname: Peyton-Marie-James**

**Summary: It's always been Jacob. There's nothing else to it. Well, actually there's a lot more than is allowed to be realized. Ignores Jacob/Bella Eclipse events.**

**Word Count: 6,518**

**To view other entries, please visit: ****.net/u/2922402/Just_a_Kiss_Contest**

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns the Twilight Saga. I own nothing but the gears that constantly go inside my head. ;)**

Bella POV

I've been trapped. That's all that can be extracted from my past and current situations. I thought that I'd always love Edward; people are wrong sometimes. _I_ was wrong. After I saved him in Italy my plan was to go back to Jacob. No words could express the pain that throbbed within me when he got on his knees and begged me to stay with him; to stay _alive_ for him. I'd never cried so hard, and I cried a lot in those few months. Just when I had begun to tell him that I would come back to him, Alice drug me into the car without letting me look back.

I almost made a deal with the devils that day; almost sold my mortality to the ominous Volturi…but I didn't. I would be forever in debt to Rosalie Hale for saving my life. She has a power—a shield—that can silently manipulate other vampire abilities. She can deceive all but Edward's. Aro could read her memories and thoughts, but he had no way of finding out that she was lying about one small detail—about me. She could hide information that went through Alice and Edward's heads when Aro tried his gift on them, also.

Amongst the three of them, they convinced the Volturi that I didn't know about vampires. They claimed that I believed Edward was going to an Italian palace to get himself beheaded. Yes, it was far too medieval for a modern person to consider, but you have to remember that the Volturi don't exactly live for the present. All of them—Aro, Marcus, Caius, Alec, Jane, Demitri, and Felix—are hundreds of years old.

Escaping the Volturi and effectively saving Edward meant that I was free. I could go back to Jacob. Well, not everything always goes the way you hope. Edward decided that I would be his until the day I die. He had always been possessive, but never to such a degree. The only thing that had changed was the fact that someone else had my heart, and Edward didn't like it. He didn't like it one bit.

That's why and how I ended up sitting in my room with Edward guarding the house. My heart broke into a million pieces when I found out that Jacob had been severely injured by a newborn when he went to protect Leah. The unbearable part of it was that I couldn't see him; not even with Edward. It didn't matter because I wouldn't, couldn't, and never will go to LaPush with Edward for various lengthy reasons that I didn't want to go into.

The part that really irked me was that I was isolated from _everyone_. My truck's engine was dismantled, Jacob's cell phone and home number were elaborately blocked on my cell phone along with everyone in LaPush, and Edward disconnected my landline every time I picked it up. I was a lone flower in a patch of thistles; a helpless human in a world of vampires. I missed Jacob so, so much. I hadn't even gotten to tell him that I loved him.

My tears went unnoticed until I began to wipe them off. It made me very frantic because Edward hated it when I cried. I don't mean in sympathy, but in anger. He was in my room so fast I saw nothing but a blur rush through the window. I had to clench my jaw to keep from sobbing hysterically knowing that no one would hear my cries. Jacob, the pack, and my family were ill informed of _everything_; no one from LaPush could come and Charlie was at work. My only hope was that Alice would get a vision.

He grabbed me by the throat and shoved me against the wall, nearly cutting off my air supply. "You will _not_ cry. You will not cry, scream, or even act out of the ordinary because if I find out—and I will—the consequences won't be pretty. Do we understand each other?" A chill raced down my spine at the sound of his sinister voice.

So, I did what I always had to do—simply nod meekly and state the horrid words that were the farthest from the truth, "I understand."

Acting as if nothing had happened, he leaned down and pressed his cold, wretched lips to my forehead and jumped back out the window.

I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed the heels of my palms into them. My whole body fell onto my bed in frustration and weariness. I'd absolutely _had it_ with vampires. I was tired of the cold, the constant guarding, the dumb rules, and I was completely put-out with Edward.

I wanted my best friends, Quil, Embry, and Leah. Even the grumpier members of the pack were missed terribly. I wanted my second father, Billy. I wanted my real father and my real mother, but most of all, I wanted Jacob. I knew there wasn't anyway to get any of those things to happen at the moment, so I tried desperately to think of possible solutions to my ever-growing problematic situation.

Call Leah? _No, my phone was rigged._

Call Emily? _No, can't call anyone in LaPush._

Call Rosalie? _No, Edward would hear me. _

Call Charlie or even Angela? _No, he would still hear me._

Call Alice? _Alright, this was getting ridiculous._

Make a run for LaPush? _No, Edward was too fast._

Every last possibility seemed hopeless. I was ready to give up; let myself waste away in heartache for the rest of eternity. _Eternity_. My whole body shuttered from the inside out just at the mere thought of such a concept. Maybe I could just kill myself. It would make things a whole lot easier. At least that way no one could have me. Well, in more or less words, Edward couldn't have me. I was going to give up. Heck, just in these last few seconds I was already making a plan of _how_ to give up. Of course, I wasn't going to go into _too _many gory details knowing how squeamish I was around blood. Geez, this was going to be harder than I thought…

Then, as if it had been sent on a spontaneous occasion, a brilliant thought came to my mind. There was one thing I knew I could do. There was only one time I could do it, and I was going to do it then. After waiting for three months, I had plan.

_Bella and Edward's wedding day…_

This was it. This was my last chance. There were going to be at least a hundred people in the church sanctuary and the majority or the guests would be human. I was going to need more than a few humans for this to work, though. I was going to need vampires—quite a few of them—for this one to play out, and let me tell you, it was one heck of a plan. It involved a runaway bride, strong vampires, singing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," using Rosalie's Audi to go faster than my truck's maximum speed of sixty miles-per-hour, wing-man duty from Leah, and going back to the lone werewolf that held my heart in his large russet hand.

So it wasn't too complicated when you really thought about it. Elaborate? Yes. But no, it wasn't _that _complicated. It was going to be easy…I hoped. At the moment, I needed to focus on roping in Rose and Alice. They were going to be the first people I spoke to. Rosalie was doing my hair and Alice was doing my makeup. I waited very impatiently for them to finish their annoying task.

My knee was bouncing like the nervous wreck I was. Do they really need more than five minutes to cake on that stuff? I looked at the clock and then back at the girls. "Alright guys, you've got to hurry up."

Rosalie put down the curling iron and stepped in front of me holding up her hand up to Alice. "Hold on a sec, Alice. Bella, what crawled up your butt and died?"

"Edward!" I snapped.

I thought Alice's eyes were going to bulge out of her head and Rosalie stifled a laugh with her hand. "So I take it this wedding isn't really working out for the blushing bride?" Rosalie mused.

"No, and I need both of you guys to start singing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" in your head right now." I hoped that didn't sound as crazy as I felt when I said it.

They both looked at me like I'd grown a second head and I quickly dismissed them with my hand. "Don't ask questions just do it," I insisted.

Alice's eyes glazed over and immediately grew wide again. She was soon humming the song with concentration that made her entire body tense. "I know your plan, just tell Rose and fast." She turned to her sister. "Rosalie, just start humming, you're going to need it to block your thoughts," she whispered. We couldn't risk the possibility of Edward simply overhearing us aside of the whole mindreading ordeal.

Rosalie nodded and started singing to herself. "Bella start talking," she sung to the tune of her constant chorus.

I nodded and explained my plan with as much detail as I could while keeping my voice very quiet. At first they seemed a little perplexed, but their expression quickly changed from confused to determined as I went further into explanation. As soon as they found out the desired outcome they understood completely. Rosalie was actually excited. Though it didn't completely surprise me, considering her wish for me to live a long, happy human life, I wasn't expecting her to be so…so _thrilled._ I mean, Edward was her brother, after all. I quickly shook the thought from my head and moved along to find Jasper and Emmett leaving Alice and Rosalie to sing that annoying song on a continuous loop.

I found Jasper and Emmett playing poker in the fellowship hall with Carlisle and Charlie. In any other situation I would've felt bad for intruding, but this was a matter of living in misery or having Heaven on earth for the rest of my existence. I'd lived with Edward's temper and possessiveness far too long. I sauntered over to the table and leaned down to whisper in Jasper's ear.

"Jasper, come with me for just a second. I need your help; Emmett's too. Please." I sounded far too desperate, but I really was. _I really, really was. _

He sensed my panicked emotions and complied almost instantly. Wasting no time, he drug Emmett out of his chair and into the chapel right next to the sanctuary. We made almost no sound going through the winding halls of the church. I had actually taken off my heels and was running around barefoot so we were quieter.

Once we were behind a closed door and assured that no one was listening I told them to start singing the childhood song that poor Rosalie and Alice were still humming. Jasper had a reaction similar to the girls, but Emmett began singing willingly…and a little too loudly.

"Shh! Not so loud!" I scolded, but couldn't help laughing.

Emmett clapped Jasper on the back and made the conductors' gesture, cuing him to start singing. Jasper shrugged and started humming along and looked at me a little strangely when I told them that they were singing to hide their thoughts from Edward. I was worried that maybe Jasper was a little too keen on my plan already. If that was the case, Edward might have caught wind of it. He noticed my worry and shrugged it off, so I continued to lay my plan out on the table.

To my pleasant surprise, the boys also seemed very excited to follow through. _Yes! This was going to work!_

I made sure that they continued to sing the song in their heads up until the plan was brought into action. I couldn't believe this was ACTUALLY going to work! I was almost giddy until I realized that I still needed to call Leah. _Crap._ Rosalie's services would be needed again. Well, at least her cell phone services. That, and her ability to thoroughly distract any male being—human or not—on the planet.

My bare feet actually seemed to keep me balanced for once in my life. Wow, maybe it was the shoes that kept my gait so unsteady. My train of thought was cut off when I tripped over a flower plant that stood next to the entrance of the room that the girls were getting ready in. I guess I spoke too soon.

I shook it off and peeked my head through the door, assessing the room for my blonde friend. I spotted her right away, talking to another bridesmaid that I didn't know. "Pssst! Rose!" I hissed.

She dismissed the person she had been talking to and hurriedly met me at the door. "Yes?" The poor thing was still humming the song.

I bit my lip, not wanting to ask her for yet _another_ favor. Sadly, I had no choice. "Can I borrow your phone?" I asked.

"Of course." She flipped it out of her purse and held it out to me.

"Oh, and Rose? I'm going to need you to use your woman powers to distract Edward." I looked down almost shyly. "Please? I promise this is the last thing I'll need, and I don't really know if I'll ever get to see you again after today, and that really sucks because you're like, one of my best friends and I already owe you my life, but—"

She grabbed my shoulders and gave them a firm, but gentle shake. "Bella, you're not saying goodbye to me. Just take the phone and shut up before you're throat's too sore to do your job at the altar and…afterwards." She winked and tossed the phone into my hands—which I almost didn't catch because of my lack of hand-eye coordination—and headed towards the men's preparation room with an extra sway to her hips. _Lord, this is going to be good!_

I pushed all other thoughts aside and dialed Leah's number. It rang four times before a very grumpy Leah picked up the phone.

"Look, I don't want to buy any freaking frozen sushi! I've told your stupid service over and over and one of these days—"

"Leah! This isn't Chinese take-out, it's Bella. I'm on Rosalie's phone."

My fingers were crossed, but with no avail. She growled into the phone and started yelling at me.

"Bella, who the heck are you to use your stupid leech's phone to try and call me after you've spent three months—_THREE MONTHS, Bella_—breaking Jacob's—"

My knees practically buckled at the sound of his name. I let Leah ride out her rampage for a minute or so before I cut in. "Leah, you have to hear me out. I've been Edward's _prisoner_ for the past three months. I've tried everything, and I mean _everything_ to go and see Jacob. I tried calling, running away, having Charlie take me…Leah, I faked freaking _heart attack_ to get in an ambulance and try to convince them to take me to LaPush. You don't know what he's capable of or what he's done to me, nor do I want to tell you. I'm just going to come right out and say it: I have a plan, and I have no clue how it's going to work out, or if anyone is going to do their part…all I know is that I need your help with the Jacob part of this situation."

I was out of breath almost to the point of hyperventilating by the time I had explained myself to my witty and outspoken best friend.

Then, after a moment of complete silence, Leah began furiously—and quite creatively—cursing out Edward and most-likely every other thing that got in the way of the rampage she was blowing the top off of. Because she was by best friend, I listened to her for a good two minutes and then decided to cut in.

"Okay, Leah, I think we've made a pretty wide spectrum of colorful curses for all of the sailors to ride on for the rest of time, and as much as I'd love to sit around and add to your list I need to know—will you help me?" _Please say yes, please say yes…_

She sighed and made a long, dramatic pause. "Am I hotter than Emily Young?" I could _hear_ the smirk in her voice and had to stop myself from squealing. Instead, I settled for never-ending expressions of gratitude and praises which Leah rightfully ate up. I talked Leah through her part of the plan—which she was _extremely_ hyped up about—and made sure that Jacob would be in front of Embry's house in an hour. She was having Embry try to get in a better word for me—as if that would help after all of the grief I'd put Jake through—and have Jacob on location at the correct time. I prayed to God that this would all pan out.

I let out a deep breath that I didn't know I was holding. Everything was set up, and I had never been more nervous in my life. I was just about ready to prepare for the walk down the isle when Edward came through the door. My throat tightened and I had to keep myself from whimpering. _Show no weakness._

"Bella, would you mind telling me why every immortal person in the sanctuary is singing a rousing rendition of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" in their minds?" he growled.

_All of them?_ Man, they must've gotten Esme and Carlisle wrapped up in the plan, also…_focus Bella!_ I had to get my mind out of the gutter and think. _Distraction, distraction…_"Oh! That's just because I've been singing it all morning. Probably got it stuck in their heads. You see, it was my favorite song when I was a little kid and I used to sing it when I was nervous. You know huge day; probably biggest of my life." Alright, I know that was going a little far, but that was as good as I could do on the spot. I tried as hard as I could to stare him down. _Show no weakness, show no weakness._

He seemed satisfied with my answer, but the suspiciousness was still clearly written out on his face. I didn't really care as long as he was waiting at the end of the aisle in approximately sixty seconds. I watched him enter the sanctuary and I began to tremble. What if Emmett and Jasper weren't able to help? What if Edward weaseled out of _this_ too? No, I had to stay positive. Leah would be waiting in Rose's Audi in probably two minutes. She said that she would phase and run over so we could use a fast car.

I was brought to attention by the sound of the organ playing the death march. _Well, here goes nothing!_ Charlie beckoned me over and gave me a last glare. He was not happy at all with my engagement. I had totally forgotten how happy Charlie would be! Heck, he'd probably be jumping up and down and calling Billy before I could even get to Jacob. That was one of the many reason why I didn't involve him in my plan.

"So…you ready for this Bells?" he pressed.

"Yeah, sure," I said absentmindedly.

He quirked an eyebrow and grunted in response. "I made a bet with your mom that this wouldn't last past the honeymoon."

Despite my anger towards my father and mother betting on my marriage, I had to laugh. "Thanks, Dad. I can always count on you to, um…_enlighten_ the moment."

A smile slowly spread across his face followed by a bit of a blush. "Thanks, Bells."

"Anytime, Dad."

We linked arms and watched everyone stand as the music got louder. _Man, there were a_ _ton of people here!_ I shook away my nerves and smiled thinking about Jacob. I could fool anyone else in the room into thinking that I was actually smiling at the fact that I was getting married. Well, the joke's on them…and Edward.

Dad and I walked at a painfully slow pace down the isle. I gritted my teeth behind a closed-lipped smile, knowing that Jacob would never make me have such a fake wedding. Oh, how I longed for him. I'd longed for him for so long. If everything went as planned, I was hoping that I wouldn't have to anymore. I couldn't even begin to imagine the pain that _Jacob_ has been in for these past months. The only time I got to see him was right before the newborn battle. I didn't even get to speak to him; just acknowledge his presence and stand next to Edward.

It felt almost powerful to think that I would be free of that prison. The days had grown longer and longer, but never less painful. If Jacob would have me, we could actually be _together_. I felt so foolish not confessing my feelings for him in those months that he healed my shattered heart. I hoped to God that he would take me back when he found out the despicable deeds that Edward had done to keep us apart.

My thoughts were cut off when I realized that we were now at the bottom of the altar steps. Esme must've sped up the music. Edward had a sickly romantic expression worn on his face like an old coat, and Carlisle was humming to himself. What did _he_ have cooked up?

Charlie handed me over to Edward with much difficulty. Edward's face changed to smug when he was able to snatch my hand from my father's. Poor Charlie had a look of pure defeat. I wanted to wink at him, pat him on the shoulder…_anything_ to try and reassure him, but I couldn't take the chance of Edward reading his thoughts.

Carlisle cleared his throat and turned towards the pews full of mostly unknown guests. "Now, I realize that we usually don't do this so early on in the ceremony, but I figured there is no point in continuing otherwise." _Oh. That was unexpected._ _Well, I guess better early than late._

Edward's jaw clenched, for Carlisle had started to hum again. Apparently, everyone was trying to keep Edward less than informed for as long as possible.

"Now, if there are any objections to this wedding, please stand and say so."

I quickly glanced at Emmett and Jasper and they both nodded, grabbing onto Edward's wrists. I turned my attention to Carlisle and raised my hand. "I do."

A penetrable silence overwhelmed the room. Charlie looked like he could burst from happiness; Renee was stunned from shock, along with many other people. However, the reaction I was dreading the most came from Edward. He tried to step towards me, but Emmett and Jasper held onto him with vice grips.

"Bella," he seethed, "do you not realize that I have already won? You can go off and run, but you can never hide; not from me. There's nothing and no one that will stop me from getting what I want."

"Now, that's where you're wrong." The doors of the sanctuary opened and there stood Leah, in her sassy and hormonal glory wearing sunglasses, a black tank top and a pair of cutoffs. She marched up the isle like she owned the place and looked up at Edward from the bottom of the steps. "Because you see, I can do whatever I want." She held up my beloved converse sneakers and tilted her head towards the door.

We bolted out of that church as fast as we could. Well, it was as fast as _I _could, anyways. You could tell that Leah was holding back. The keys of the Audi were already in the ignition when we got in. Leah checked the rearview mirror and revved up the engine. "Let's go get Prince Charming, Bee." She winked and backed out of the parking lot.

So many things were going through my head at that moment and during the whole ride to LaPush. There weren't words to describe how anxious and jittery I was. My body was twitching like miniature seizure, my palms were ice cold—I never sweat when I'm nervous—and my knee was bouncing like crazy.

"—BELLA!"

"What?" I turned to face a very amused Leah.

"Relax, Bells. I've been trying to get your attention since we went passed First Beach, and I was just going—"

"We already passed first beach?" I squeaked.

She shook her head and chuckled. "Yes, we did. Anyways, as I was saying, I was just going to tell you that if Jake gives you any trouble to call me. I would get you home first and then proceed to beat him 'till he's got his tail between his legs—pun intended." She winked and turned onto Jacob's street.

All of my nervous mannerisms kicked up to ridiculous levels. Leah tried to calm me down by placing a hand on my knee to try and stop my shaking; no such luck. I was fisting my hands in my dress until it tore up the side. I looked down at it with shock and Leah laughed.

"Hey, at least you can walk in it now. That thing was so tight around your hips and legs you looked like you should be on the cover of _Vogue_. It's STILL way too tight, but you look more like Jacob's girl again. I swear, he fell in love with you the moment he saw you wear your sneakers with that 'barely call it a dress' for prom." She drove into Embry's driveway and parked. "He and Jake are here. Dang, that dipstick! I told him to have Jake out here when we got here. Oh well."

"Thanks for doing this Leah, I owe you a million." I smiled at her and looked out the window.

"No problem. You're my best friend, Bee. No vampire's going to take that away." She reached up and took the veil off my head. Then she proceeded to lick her thumb and wipe the running mascara off of my face. "Wow, this crap like, sticks! You'd think if it stuck to your cheeks this good it'd stay on your eyelashes a little better." She rolled her eyes and wiped her thumb on her shorts.

"Good Lord, Leah, only you." I turned to the mirror to assess the damage; it wasn't pretty. My dress was ripped, my eye make-up was definitely smeared, my hair was disheveled, and I was wearing my favorite shoes. "Leah, I look like a hag!" I cried. "Jake won't even want to look at me."

To my frustration, she just laughed. "No, you don't. You look like a girl who can't stand to get dressed up. That's the girl _Jake_ fell in love with, not Doucheward." That signature smirk crossed her face.

During any time but the present that remark would've make me feel better, but this was more serious. This was a matter of heart shattering or piecing back together. My breath caught in my throat when I saw Embry begin to push Jake out the door. Jake was swatting and scowling at Embry while Embry looked at Leah like a scared rabbit. He knew that he was in for trouble later if Lee got a hold of him.

"Embry, what is this all about? Why do I need to be out here, and why is Leah going to have your balls on a silver platter?" Jacob was now facing Embry with his arms crossed.

"C'mon, Bee, now's your chance. Go get your man and I'll take care of the lesser minded one." Leah pushed me out the door, causing me to fall out on the grass.

I covered my eyes with the heels of my hands in embarrassment. "Really, Leah?"

She was too busy pulling Embry back into the house by the ear to listen to my half-hearted retort. I moved to stand up and my dress caught in the door. "Crap," I muttered. I assessed my current situation; standing up with the bottom of my dress caught in the car door hinge. I sighed. _It was already ripped…_I grabbed the side of it and tore it from the stubborn grasp. Since it was me, I had to stumble backwards from the force of my own strength.

I held my arms out, ready to catch myself on solid ground, but instead found something harder, yet softer. My landing pad wrapped itself around my waist, catching me. I looked up to find two dark eyes boring into me. "Oh…sorry," I muttered. I felt very intimidated by his steady glare. And it was—a glare. He was definitely as mad as I expected him to be.

"Bella, what do you think you're doing here…and dressed like _that_?" He scoffed at my wedding attire in complete disgust.

My mouth opened to explain but words came spilling out from a different mouth. "Now Black, you better watch yourself. Stop for a minute and listen to her before you sound or look anymore like Sam than you already do at the moment." Leah was standing on the Calls' porch with her arms crossed. If looks could kill, Jake would be on the ground with no life left in him.

Jacob glared at Leah and then back at me. "Alright, talk." His voice was cold with no traces of the old Jacob to be found. I couldn't even call him _my_ Jacob anymore because he wasn't. It was all my fault for saving Edward.

"Jacob, the night I went to save Edward from Italy I had every intention of coming back…to _you_. But—"

"Yeah, Bella, there's always a 'but' isn't there?" His voice was filled with hatred and tell-tale signs of a broken heart.

I kept my gaze in his eyes no matter how much it hurt to see the bitterness in them. "When I got home I told Edward that I was going to go back to you. I told him that he and I were both alive and better off without each other. Then he…" I trailed off, swallowing back any tears that wanted to fall. I wasn't going to cry in front of Jacob. He was the one that deserved to cry. He deserved to cry, yell, scream, and throw things every which way. Not me. "He um, slapped me and shoved me against the house. He said that if he thought that I could go back to you after leading him into thinking that I was going back to him I was selfish and insane."

The look in Jacob's eyes changed ever-so-slightly. It was so scarce that only someone that truly knew him could tell the difference, but I could. The hatred towards me was shifted to Edward. He was beyond angry now.

"Anyways, I'm going to make a long story short because I don't want to get you any angrier or have a pity party for myself. Edward's had me prisoner ever since he and I returned. He blocked everyone from LaPush on my cell with a password, disconnected the landline every time I picked it up, kept me from coming within miles of LaPush, and he, um…" I dropped my head in embarrassment, "he stopped an ambulance from coming when I faked a heart attack to convince the drivers to take me to LaPush. I was going to tell them that I was being held hostage."

The whole thing sounded absolutely and completely ridiculous, but Jacob needed to hear it.

"Rosalie and Alice are probably trying to explain my 'runaway bride' act to the million guests that I don't even know right about now. That was their part of the plan. I had them all help me set up an escape so I could leave Edward at the altar. If there are a bunch of humans around him he can't do much to me. Plus, I'm safe in LaPush if you don't kick me out after this." I bit my lip nervously.

Jacob's expression was unreadable. I was already going through the worst possible scenarios in my head.

"It's okay if you don't want me after this, but I'm not going back to Edward. I also know that if I hadn't felt so guilty about him almost killing himself and stayed here with you instead of saving him we probably wouldn't be in his mess. I know that, and I'm not going to say I'm sorry because it isn't enough for what I've put you through." I squeezed my eyes shut and held myself together by wrapping my arms around my torso. "I understand if you don't feel the same way after all of this, but I know that I love you, Jacob, and I've never wanted anyone else."

My resolve was quickly slipping, but I made sure to keep my eyes on his despite the tears that were now falling. "I've wanted to say that to you for so, _so _long, and it feels so good. I love you, Jacob. I'll love you forever. I don't know how you feel anymore, and I know you will do and say what you want. I just needed to tell you that," I whispered the last words, though I knew he heard them loud and clear.

I waited for several moments and after a while I couldn't bear it anymore. "I'm sorry, I'll go." I turned around quickly only to be caught around the waist once again.

He turned me around in his large hands and lifted them to my face. "Bells," he breathed. I missed hearing him call me that along with simply hearing his voice. "You came back." This whisper of his voice fell over my face, softly caressing the skin it landed upon. "_You came back_," he repeated, his voice slightly breaking.

I held my hands over his and kissed the hollow of his throat. "I'm here."

That was all he needed to hear. In one swift motion, he leaned down and gently brushed his lips against mine twice before completely capturing them in a kiss that made my heart swell to the point of aching.

It had hurt so much to be away from him, and now the painful hole in my chest was burning closed.

Never breaking our lips apart, he reached down and caught both of my legs in his arm with the other supporting my upper body, holding me bridal-style. I hadn't noticed that I was crying, but Jacob was kissing the tears off my face, making his lips wet and salty. Our lips continued to move together like we'd been doing it our entire lives. We just fit with each other. My body fit into every curve and muscle of his arms like an old puzzle being put together again after sitting in the box for years; so close, yet so far away.

Slowly, I slid my hand up his chest and around his neck. The other hand followed suit on the opposite side so that arms were wrapped tightly around him. I was holding onto him for dear life in fear that this was all merely a dream. I chased the thought away when his tongue ran across my lips begging for entrance. I parted them slightly and could finally fully taste the tears that I had been shedding almost unconsciously. A huge weight was lifted now that I was able to cry and have someone hear you that didn't throw you into a wall.

He broke away and began raining heavy kisses down my neck to my collarbone. "I'm never letting you go." His voice was husky and thick with emotion. He lifted his face and kissed my wet eyelashes. "I love you, Bells. I always have," he looked at me with those eyes that could melt a heart of stone, "and I always will," he vowed with passionate sincerity. "I can't even tell you how much it breaks my heart to hear about what he did to you." he gritted his teeth but his face softened when he looked back at me. "But that's the past, and all I can do is promise you that when _our_ day comes I will mean every letter of my vows and love you like a real man should on your wedding night."

Every word he said had a part in breaking away the walls that I had built around myself. Now that I was with Jacob and didn't have to worry about Edward anymore, I was completely free. My breaths got heavier and heavier until I let out a small choking sound; the first sign of a release that I had been void of. Jacob saw it coming and buried my face to his chest, stroking my hair and dropping a kiss in the crook of my neck every so often. I gripped his shirt and cried harder than I'd had in my entire life.

In those three months I used absolutely everything I possibly could to keep myself together; humor, sarcasm, silence…all to myself. I cried because I didn't have to cry. I cried just because I could. I cried because Jacob was finally in my arms and he wasn't letting go.

"It's alright, baby, I won't let anyone hurt you ever again. I swear to it," he murmured into my hair.

"He never called me that," I whispered.

"Never called you what?"

I sighed. "He never called me anything but Bella. I have a conversation with you and I get more terms of endearment than I can keep track of."

He chuckled and kissed my hair. "Well, if that's the case, I'd sing that shaggy-haired kid's song that's always on the radio. But if you didn't mind I'd rather just _call_ you 'baby.' No one wants to hear me sing."

Despite all of the crying I had done I let myself laugh. "I wouldn't care as long as it's _your_ voice," I whispered, my voice still thick with tears.

He seemed to consider this and then began belting out the lyrics causing me to laugh even more.

This was where I belonged; with Jacob. There were no false declarations or fake weddings and most importantly, no abuse. Jacob was mine again…at least I thought he was. "Wait, does this mean I can call you 'my Jacob' again?"

"Of course, honey. I'm yours." He leaned down to kiss me once again. Sometimes that's all it takes to make you better; make you whole again. I was finally home after being gone for so long. I had been living without my heart. Like they always say, "Home is where the heart is." Well, home is where _my_ heart is: with Jacob.

_The End._


End file.
